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Monday, 9 December 2013

EARC-Review: Witch Finder

~A huge thank you to Hodder Children's Books, and Netgalley, who provided a copy in exchange for an honest review.~

------------------------------------------------------------------------London. 1880. In the slums of Spitalfields apprentice blacksmith Luke is facing initiation into the Malleus Maleficorum, the fearsome brotherhood dedicated to hunting and killing witches.

Luke’s final test is to pick a name at random from the Book of Witches, a name he must track down and kill within a month, or face death himself. Luke knows that tonight will change his life forever. But when he picks out sixteen-year-old Rosa Greenwood, Luke has no idea that his task will be harder than he could ever imagine.

I am very indecisive about Witch Finder. I would love to say
I loved it. But I can't. I didn't. I would love to say I hated it. But I can't.
I didn't. Though there are some aspects of both that I did love and did hate.
Of which I'll discuss later on in detail, but one of the main thing Witch Finder
has going for it is the fact it is very well done and authentic. Written in
third person, and split into two perspectives you have two stories to contend
with, that has to be seamlessly in sync with one another, which, for the most
part, were. Needless to say, Witch Finder wasn't exactly what I was expecting.
With historicals, it's all about the execution. Though it was executed well,
there was something that didn't sit well.

One of the main snags for me, in fact were the characters.
Most of the central characters were downrightsociopathic, self-righteous, self-titled and arrogant. This applies to
seedy Sebastian, Alexis and the character I most wanted to slap, Rosa's mother.
Besides the ugh, go away comments and actions from both Sebastian and Alexis,
which in those times, was expected. What I couldn't get over was the one
character that you'd think Rosa would be on equal footing with her, what I
call,mother.

She angered me to no end, Sebastian and Alexis are their own
kinds of evil,but the more I think
about it, morally, Rosa's mother was worse than both what Alexis and Sebastian
done, because it is her Mother. The
person that's supposed to love you, look out for you, would want the best for
you. Not sell youfor wealth and money, no matter what Rosa
wanted for herself, or her happiness. As long as she was taken care of, she
couldn't five a crap about her own daughter.

And what, you're relying on your daughter to get you out of
your own mess, never mind the cost to her, just so you can be rich and live like
you accustomed to, and shop all the
money you can away? How about you get off your lazy ass-Don't even get me started, there would be a
lot of swearing and that would not be ladylike.

But, I did like Rosa for most of it, because she's not
stupid, or blind to Sebastian. She's not a whiny character, she's not all self,
like the others. She's really kind, she's sees a lot more than her own
upturned nose.

It took me longer to warm up to Luke, and though I get why
he wanted to do what he was going to do in the beginning, it's not one size
fits all.

Now, the other major snag for me was the animal
cruelty,and though it's not central to
the storyline it is essential to certain characters, so I get why it was in
there, but it is a little graphic, and I'm not okay about it. So, if you're the
same as me, or sensitive to that kind of thing, you've been forewarned.

I really liked the whole storyline, it's the something I was
looking for in Witchstruck, on the witch hunt side of things, that I didn't
find. That being said,besides the
basics, there wasn't much to found on. Luke's on his mission, to get into the
secret brother hood, a brother hood that you don't know much about...you have
the basics, but that's where that story starts and ends. I would've liked more
to root that side of the story.

There are some aspects of Witch Finder that I loved, the authenticity,
and the feel of it, and some aspects I really didn't like at all.I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it, I'm
in-between.